M-C boys score two wins

Undeterred by four Hope Lutheran Patriots, Cougar Donnie Lind gets a put-back bucket during the boys basketball game at Mabel-Canton last Tuesday night. CRAIG MOORHEAD/NEWS-RECORD

The Mabel-Canton boys' basketball team chalked up two victories last week.

M-C versus Hope Lutheran

On Tuesday, Jan 21, the Cougars defeated the Patriots in Mabel, 59-45.

The Cougars scored the first nine points in the contest and never trailed. Forcing turnovers with deflections, broken up passes, and outright steals, M-C had better than doubled up on Hope Lutheran at the half, 33-16. The Patriots battled back to within six points early in the second period, taking advantage of a shooting slump by the home team. A transition bucket by Justin Ward appeared to rouse the Cougars with nine and a half minutes left to play and that was as close as the visitors would get.

When the buzzer sounded, M-C had won the turnover tussle 20-8, and out-stole the visitors 14-3. Hope won the battle of the boards, snagging 43 rebounds to M-C's 29. They also took advantage of twice as many trips to the foul line, out-scoring the Cougars 16-8 at the charity stripe.

Outside shots weren't falling too well for either team. Mabel-Canton scored on three of 12 trey attempts, while Hope tried just as many, but only sank one. Overall, M-C hit just over 40 percent from the field, while Hope Lutheran managed 32 percent.

Ward passed for five assists and scored 12 points. He also came down with three rebounds and got a hand on 10 Hope Lutheran passes.

Noah Manning also scored 12 points and finished the double double with 10 boards. He also chalked up five steals.

The third 12-point scorer was Hunter Johnson, who snagged four rebounds and lifted a pass from the visitors.

Mac Nelson came off the bench for six points, two rebounds and a steal. Wesley Richert also came in for six points, a board, and an assist. Keyser Wenthold scored five points, snagged four rebounds and three steals. Donnie Lind had four points, four rebounds, a steal and an assist.

Friday night brought a trip to Glenville, where Johnson busted loose to lead the Cougars to a 62-39 rout of the Wolverines.

M-C jumped out to an 11-1 lead and held G-E to just 16 first-half points.

The Cougars launched 19 shots from beyond the arc, but only hit three. The Wolverines managed a pair of treys on 10 attempts. Closer in, M-C shot a much better 52 percent (25 of 48) and made life difficult for G-E shooters. The Wolverines finished with a dismal nine buckets on 42 two-point tries.

Glenville held sway at the foul line, hitting 15 of 25 while the Cougars got just nine tries, netting three.

M-C out-rebounded the Wolverines 40-33 and blocked seven shots to two for the hosts. Quick hands paid off again for the Cougars, who snatched 19 steals while only losing nine.

Johnson totaled 21 points, six rebounds, two blocked shots and two steals. Ward and Lind scored 12 points apiece. Wenthold had five points, while Joe Wathier came in for four.

Lind finished the double double with 12 rebounds. He also blocked two shots. Wenthold blocked three shots and grabbed five boards. Manning had four rebounds, three steals and five assists with only three turnovers. Ward totaled four rebounds, four steals and four assists.

Glenville-Emmons was led by Gavin Allison with nine points and Derek Van Ryswyk with eight. Kenny Koch and Tristan Mehus scored five points each.

Up next

The Cougars were scheduled to host Spring Grove on Monday, Jan. 27, but the game was postponed due to inclement weather. The game was rescheduled for Feb. 7. On Tuesday night, Rochester Home School was set to visit Mabel. On Friday, Lyle/Pacelli will come to town.